Aviation Museums: Books - Great Britain - History

Great Aviation Collections of Britain - The UK's National Treasures and Where to Find Them

A century ago the Cody Biplane was presented to the Science Museum, putting Britain at the forefront of the worldwide aviation heritage movement. This special edition of Wrecks & Relics celebrates the centenary and the development of the UK's aviation museums, telling the story of the national icons such as the Science Museum, Imperial War Museum, RAF Museum, Fleet Air Arm Museum, Museum of Army Aviation and the Shuttleworth Collection including how they developed and their exhibits, past and present.

"Great Aviation Collections of Britain" also pays tribute to provincial, regional and local collections, large and small which tell the tale of the UK's incredible diversity of aviation achievements and provide details of nearly 100 venues open to the public.
Over 200 of the most important exhibits are profiled in detail, with their backgrounds described, their significance explained and the exploits of the pilots that flew them revealed.

From Roe's Triplane, Amy Johnson's Moth, a Battle of Britain veteran Spitfire, the very first Mosquito all the way through to Concorde and Eurofighter, each has its biography outlined. Aircraft are cross-referenced allowing the reader to visit the 'must see' exhibits across Britain.

Over 250 photographs and illustrations including archive imagery stretching back over 100 years highlight the UK's treasures both when they were in service, or found disused and decaying.

Local Aviation Collections of Britain : The UK's Regional Aeronautical Treasures

Britain has a wealth of museums of all sizes, all with incredible exhibits, yet the 'big' collections tend to get the limelight. All over the UK are amazing aircraft collections, containing aircraft of world, national or regional importance, many of which the curators of the national institutions would love to have.

With region-by-region coverage, the backgrounds of the formative museums of Great Britain are highlighted along with the pedigrees of their most significant exhibits. Included are such icons as the de Havilland Aircraft Museum - home of the Mosquito; the Brooklands Museum - headquarters of Sopwith, Hawker and Vickers; the Helicopter Museum - the world's largest rotorcraft collection and Solent Sky - shrine to flying-boats and the Spitfire.

Across Britain are many local collections that helped to pioneer this country's incredible aviation heritage and the role of enthusiasts is highlighted with a profile of the first of them all - the Northern Aircraft Preservation Society and its lineage.
Among the 'regionals' are the Dumfries and Galloway, Solway, North East, Newark, Norfolk and Suffolk, Yorkshire and Berkshire museums.

Smaller collections have incredible stories to tell, for example the Martlesham Heath Control Tower Museum - the home of British flight test; the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum - devoted to the vital 'magic eye' of the Battle of Britain, the Glenn Miller Museum - at the airfield from which the band leader departed to his doom and Fort Paul Armouries - dominated by the enormous Beverley airlifter.

Over 150 museums and their most important exhibits are profiled with over 250 photographs, both archive and in full colour. "Britain's Local Aviation Treasures" is a unique reference for anyone interested in Britain's aviation heritage and it provides inspiration for a tour of discovery of the 'unknown' gems of the UK.